The first challenge I have faced in this journey was last night at the grocery store. I have in the past always found myself drawn to the aisle in the store that holds the most delicious, awful food for you. You know the one...the chip and snack food aisle. However, I received excellent motivation from one of my group members and she told me to write my grocery list, make a promise to myself not to deviate from that list and to also eat before I made my trip to the store. I did all of those things and I am very proud of my trip to the store. I was able to stock my refrigerator with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy products.
Today was my day to take that first step to this new lifestyle and once again I had success! I have made sure that I am make conscious choices with what I am eating.
Breakfast: Breakfast burritos with 2 wheat tortillas, 1 mini container of Egg Beaters, 1/2 avocado, 2 tsp light sour cream, 1/2 tsp Feta Cheese
Lunch: Smoothie with 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, 1 banana, 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt, 1/4 cup skim milk, 2 tsp honey
Snack: 1.5 ounces cheddar cheese and green grapes
Dinner: Grilled Sandwich with 2 slices wheat bread, 1 slice provolone cheese, 1/4 avocado
Snack: 1/4 cup low-fat small curd cottage cheese
I was surprised at the success of my smoothie to be honest. One problem I run into is my allergy to peanut oil which means any recipe with peanut butter is automatically out. This proves to make my meal planning complicated as many of the protein-packed recipes use peanut butter. This means that I took a recipe for a smoothie and altered it to both my tastes and to avoid allergic reactions. :)
I also made time today to go to the gym for the first time in a couple weeks. I hopped on the treadmill and made myself go a full 2 miles. This may not seem like much, but to me it was a challenge and because of that I have set a goal for myself: in 3 weeks I will run a race here in town. It will be a 4 mile relay that both my husband and I will run, meaning I will be running 2 of the 4 miles. Here's to my first goal!!!
This is awesome, Micki! As soon as I figure out how to subscribe to this, I'll be..... well, subscribed. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI've been really working on my diet lately and trying to eat healthier. I have also found a couple really good (read: horrifying) documentaries that will give you that extra motivation if you need it... Just let me know and I'll send you the names (they're all on hulu or netflix).
One thing I was going to say is that you can also grind up flax seeds (get yourself a cheap coffee grinder from the store - they run about $10), grind them up, and sprinkle them on things like cereals and yogurt. You can also put them into smoothies. They add great nutritional value but have to be ground for your body to properly process them (Also recommend storing them in the fridge and grinding a little bit at a time as they can lose their oils otherwise).
Another great super-veggie that I've been hooked on lately is kale. I find it easy to just add a piece of that and/or some baby spinach to my sandwiches when I have them, or to make a quick salad with baby spinach, kale, some plain cooked chicken, plain avocado, and whatever random other veggies are in my fridge and easily accessible. I find I don't need any oil when I do this given the avocado. I like it because it's more nutritious than lettuce and it's nice to mix things up.
Oh and oats. Oats are awesome. There are lots of different types, so I recommend starting with just a box of plain old fashion oats. Avoid the small Quaker packets that have all that added crap... the big box of plain Quaker is good. For the old fashioned ones, you don't even really need to "cook" them, per se. You can soak them in hot water for a bit (just put them in a bowl, pour in your boiling water, and cover the bowl with a plate) and they're good to go. The possibilities of things you can add to them are limitless (some ideas: almond butter w/ banana [not sure if you can do other nut butters]; yogurt w/ blueberries and flax; cinnamon and steamed apples).
Okay I realize this is getting long but I get excited over food! Next time we'll talk Quinoa.
I'd personally like to get to the point where I'm vegetarian at least 3 days of the week.
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